Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.fandom Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!news-vm.kithrup.com!kithrup.com!djheydt From: djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) Subject: Re: Babel Message-ID: Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:25:14 GMT References: Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd. X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test77 (Sep 1, 2010) Bytes: 1869 Lines: 28 In article , BCFD 36 wrote: >On 4/2/24 13:40, Dorothy J Heydt wrote: >> In article , >> The Horny Goat wrote: >>> I distinctly remember the line "You know the >>> 'rockets' red glare? the bombs bursting in air? Well those were OUR >>> rockets and OUR bombs - but we don't advertise that much to our >>> American friends these days!" >> >> [Hal Heydt] >> Congreve rockets and mortar rounds with the fuse cut too short, >> repsectively. > >Would the fuses have been too short if they were trying for air bursts >to kill the guys on the walls? [Hal Heydt] Probably. They were--generally speaking--trying for as close to ground contact detonation as possible. I think the air bursts they got were way short of trying for shrapnel kills on the walls. The mortars in question were "double firing" type. First the gunner lit the fuse of the shell, then he light the propellant charge. It was later that it was determined that the gases from burning propellant would go around the shell sufficiently to light the shell fuse when the mortar was fired. With a double firing design, you *really* didn't want to get distracted after light the shell fuse.